So I mentioned Top Cat in a Disney thread just a minute ago, and it got me thinking how Hanna and Barbara were like a second set of parents to me. No doubt if I watched some of those cartoons now I'd probably have to run to the nearest copy of Neon Genesis Evangelion to erase the memory of their hokiness, thus leaving my childhood memories intact, but ain't that the way with damn near everything you liked when you were a kid? And SOME of their stuff still holds up today.

If your toon ain't on the poll, just put it down and I'm sure one of the mods'll add it for ya.

The classic Tom and Jerrys are pretty untouchable, and yes Cha-Ka Khan, we had that housemaid who used to thrash 'Thomas' with her broom; although I haven't seen ANY old school cartoons on UK TV for bloody years and don't know why. I have fond memories of watching them on Sunday afternoons before Bullseye and Catchphrase. The genius slapstick is far funnier than the best The Simpsons has ever come up with;.

I bloody love the Flintstones as well, but only the ones with Mel Blanc doing Barney.

Last edited by vicious_bastard on Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

There are some other classics out there-
"Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch"-The story of three hippie bears on an invisible motorcycle (Hmm, I wonder how they came up with that) always pulling one over on the Man (The head zookeeper).

"Clue Club"-A "Scooby-Doo" knockoff, this one had two dogs that would only be understood by each other, a leader that resembled later seasons Mike Brady, his little
sister that he'd make stay home on the adventures, and a proto-Kelly Bundy, by which she was an idiot.

Of course, now Hanna-Barbera is Cartoon Network, and the best thing they've brought out in a while is "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends".

Hehehe... the Dino, he always a like a the "Danger Island" segments onna the Banana Splits, no? Just a when a the heroes would a be inna some danger, the one putz, he'd a call out "Uh oh! JOOOOON-GOOOOOO!!!" anna Jongo the Wild Boy, he'd a come a running out of a the jungle alla crazy-like anna cause a some sort of a the mayhem anna allow a the heroes a to escape...

Mmm you know what always rubbed me wrong was The Flintstones. I liked it but as I grew up I started noticing all these little things that drove me nuts. Like oh...the fact that Fred was an abusive drunk to Wilma. Sure he never hit her....but only because we never saw it. Being serious, I didnt like him. He was rude to her. And he treated everyone horribly. Poor Barney put up with his crap for years. Bam Bam was a spoiled brat. And Dino, he was a the families scapegoat eh? Fred probably hit Dino too. And I can just picture Betty having an affair. Barney was wayyy to nice for her. Slate, I think he was probably a communist.

The Jetsons, now that was the show! George was whipped, but he was nice to his family at least. And they managed to stay on those towers. I would have fallen off by accident a thousand times. Plus it had a decent movie. Not the one where they meet the Flintstones, the other one. Just a much cheerier show. No violent dinosaurs walking around.

DinoDeLaurentiis wrote:Jonny Quest alla the way, no? Race Bannon is a the badass, eh? Where else inna the American TV animation are a you gonna to find a the guy that actually goes anna KILLS other peoples, eh?

Hey, do you remember the one with the Yeti's in Tibet? Dear lord the scared me. *spoilers* At the end they find out the Yeti was an act.....but then it showed a real one. And it was so damn freaky. It being a kids cartoon and all....insane!

DinoDeLaurentiis wrote:Hehehe... hopefully a the Herculoids, they not a gonna to be a the far behind, eh? Goddamn... as a the years roll on, the Dino, he likes a to relive a his middle age, eh?

Your middle age?

Or the Middle Ages?

Oooh, that's a the good one, eh? I like a this a new putz... a the Todd, eh? Notice a how uses a the funny from a the Dino about a the middle age anna he uses a that as a the foundation onna which a to build upon anna create a the new funny? He may be a the glib... but he knows a his a stuff, eh?

Johnny Quest is of course first, followed by Herculoids and Space Ghost. I hated the retread of JQ, where all they did was go into the fuckin Quest Zone or whatever it was. That virtual reality world. Also the direct to video movies didn't do it for me either.

I loved JQ cause it was presented so well. With actual tension, believable action, and fantastic monsters and situations. One of the creepiest memories from my childhood was the Yeti walking out of sight, just as Dr. Quest and the crew saw it. Then there was the guy who trained the pterodactyl to kidnap people to work in his mine and the huge muscular deep sea monster on board that adrift freighter.

I'd remember the names of the episodes normally but I'm operating on 4 hrs sleep and I'm too lazy to imdb them.

Confession time: I’m a bad con attendee. I peruse the panel offerings beforehand and find interesting smaller panels focusing on the history of the comic medium and think ‘yes, I should check this out’. Those intentions are almost always set aside for more time on the floor hunting merchandise. Committing to cover this panel kept me honest and I’m glad I did so. Alex Toth is an animation pioneer with his roots in the early generation of comics and his work should be appreciated.

On hand was Gary Miereanu of WB Entertainment to moderate along with Danny Fingeroth and Matt Patterson. They were there to promote Warner Home Archive and DVD programs, but their love of Toth and classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon was genuine. We started with some CBS commercials from 1966 promoting the new Saturday morning cartoon block anchored by Space Ghost, Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor. The panel explained that blocks of programming with crossovers was a passion of Fred Silverman, CBS VP of programming. Toth was a lead designer on all these programs and his mantra was simplicity in design. The second clip shown was an excerpt from a documentary on Toth included on the Space Ghost Dino Boy DVD set. Artists such as Bruce Timm expressed their reverence for Toth’s sense of design and even the words of Toth himself were heard through a voice actor. We next looked at a slide of Toth’s master page for the Space Ghost design (see some of them here: Alex Toth Model Sheets-Space Ghost). There are notes littered around the figure giving minute details about his costume which were an instruction manual for the artist charged with implementing it. It was revealed that Space Ghost’s Batman-like cowl was foisted upon Toth by CBS after Adam West’s Batman appeared on the cover of Time. Toth scoffed at the idea of a black cowl on the darkness of space and eliminated confusion by implementing a halo of light around the frame.

We then moved to clips of shows in the 70’s which Toth at least has a hand in or was influenced by his work. They included Sealab 2020, Herculoids, Space Stars and Thundarr the Barbarian which drew a considerable amount of applause. Space Stars, a jam session of many Hanna-Barbera characters, was foreign to me and it was because the show only aired once in it’s hour long format and was then chopped up for syndication. The panel has worked hard to reassemble the show, even including cut elements that weren’t aired. Thundarr was written by Steve Gerber, with main character designs by Toth and ancillary designs by Jack ‘King’ Kirby himself. The presenters explained they’d found a letter from Toth where he recounted a conversation with Kirby by the pool that he found incomprehensible. Both men found the work solid in TV animation, but never appreciated the significance of it until much later in life.

The final clip was a quirky underoos commercial from the mid 80’s where kids in said ‘roos danced around with animations of superheroes. Proving their tenacity, the panel revealed storyboards for the spot by Toth. In the Q+A, I asked about a rumor that Toth was none too pleased with his art being repurposed for the satirical Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. They confirmed that he wrote a number of letters in a curmudgeonly fashion after retiring, but reinforced that he did come around to appreciating all aspects of his work. The panel ended with a plug for the Warner archive as well as a suggestion to pick up “Genius, Isolated: The Life and Work of Alex Toth” along with “Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Work of Alex Toth.”

Hey folks, Harry here... wrote:Hey folks, Harry here... I've known Robert Rodriguez as a friend for about 18 years now. Met him nearly 21 years ago when he was a Newspaper Strip artist for the Daily Texan - and well... we chat and geek out a lot. Recently, our conversations have been about the phenomenal fucking awesome that is George Miller's MAD MAX FURY ROAD! And we've geeked out hardcore on that sucker! What a friggin film!

But from the first time we hung out and painted Kali model from GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD, I've known Robert Rodriguez as being a hardcore JOHNNY QUEST geek. He's raised his children on the classic Alex Toth designed show and we've had many many conversations about how friggin cool this INDIANA JONES for kids show was.

It got announced today that he and Terry Rossio are co-writing a new draft of JOHNNY QUEST for Warners - and that Robert Rodriguez is on target to direct the film. Upon seeing this news spread across the web... it was time to geek out with Robert. Sounds like he's wanting to do it absolutely on target! It's still to early for any details, he and Terry are at work on their draft - and nothing real will be known until they finish. GodSpeed!

That said - I did get Robert to give me his Top 6 Original JOHNNY QUEST episodes in no particular order...

1. MYSTERY OF THE LIZARD MEN

2. SEA HAUNT

3. DRAGONS OF ASHIDA

4. ROBOT SPY

5. TREASURE OF THE TEMPLE

6. INVISIBLE MONSTER

Now - if you've been reading AICN for the past 19 years we've been around, you know that JOHNNY QUEST has been something that Warners has been hotly developing the ENTIRE time. I remember in 1996 when they relaunched the cartoon, there was going to be a Richard (SUPERMAN/LETHAL WEAPON) Donner directed JOHNNY QUEST project, but it fell to the wayside.

All I know - is at this exact moment, I must rewatch the Stop Motion recreation of the original Opening Titles of JOHNNY QUEST about a dozen times, because it is that cool!

Keep it cool,

Harry

talkback:

Manny Bothans wrote:JOHNNY Quest..... even with the poster and YouTube clip clearly stating it's JONNY.....7 times